Inside The Life of Silicon Valley's First Athlete Investor | Magic Johnson
a16z’s Chris Lyons speaks with Earvin "Magic" Johnson about his 30-year journey from athlete to billionaire businessman. They cover the art of deal-making, lessons from mentors Michael Ovitz and Dr. Jerry Buss, and Magic's sports ownership portfolio, from the Dodgers to the Commanders to the Sparks. They also discuss what the next generation of athletes and entertainers should know about equity, building teams, and taking risks.
Follow Magic Johnson on X: https://twitter.com/MagicJohnson
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00:00 — Introduction
05:09 — How Michael Ovitz Became Magic's First Business Mentor
07:42 — The Art of Deal Making and Building a Rolodex
14:54 — Why Boring Businesses Make the Best Investments
17:30 — Magic's First Silicon Valley Investment: Skydio
27:00 — Building a Team: Get People Smarter Than You
29:48 — The One That Got Away: Nike Stock in 1979
37:36 — Why AI Is Changing Everything
44:36 — Sports Ownership: Dodgers, Commanders, Sparks, and LAFC
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see http://a16z.com/disclosures.
AI Markets: Deep Dive with a16z's David George
a16z Head of Investor Relations Jen Kha speaks with general partner David George about the state of AI and private technology markets. David shares data on why AI companies are growing 2.5x faster than traditional software while spending significantly less on sales and marketing, driven by massive market pull and record-breaking ARR per employee. They discuss the rise of Model Busters, which are companies that grow faster and longer than anyone would have modeled, like the iPhone. They also highlight real-world adoption at Chime and Rocket Mortgage alongside portfolio breakouts like Harvey, Abridge, and ElevenLabs.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
02:25 2025 Revenue Data: 693% Growth and Why Unicorns Are Real
04:25 Why AI Companies Outgrow SaaS While Spending Less
07:15 Adapt or Die: Coding Tools, Org Design, and Electricity vs. Blood
13:09 ARR Per Employee and What's Behind the Efficiency Numbers
21:42 What Fortune 500 CEOs Say vs. What's Actually Happening
28:24 CapEx, Debt, and the AI Infrastructure Buildout
41:11 Private Markets, Power Laws, and Where Value Is Concentrating
Resources:
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Read The State of Markets - https://a16z.com/state-of-markets/
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
From $0 to $11B: The ElevenLabs Story
ElevenLabs started as a weekend project. They now have hundreds of thousands of users and crossed $330M ARR in 2025. We sat down with their team to understand how they're building the next fundamental computer interface: voice. This is the ElevenLabs story.
Resources:
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see http://a16z.com/disclosures.
Ben Horowitz on Winning vs Picking
Ben Horowitz, cofounder of a16z, on what really drives venture returns: winning deals matters more than people think.
If you cannot get into the winning companies, picking skill does not even get a chance to work. Access gets you into the top tier. Judgment decides how far you go.
Source: Uncapped with Jack Altman
How Truemed Is Incentivizing Americans to Invest in Prevention
a16z general partner Erik Torenberg speaks with Justin Mares, founder and CEO of Truemed. They discuss why American health outcomes are so poor compared to the rest of the developed world, how crop subsidies created a food system that "systematically outputs unhealthy people," and what it would take to treat the chronic disease crisis as a national security issue. Mares explains how Truemed allows people to spend tax-free HSA and FSA dollars on lifestyle interventions like gym memberships, sleep aids, and healthier food—and why he believes this could redirect hundreds of billions of dollars toward prevention. They also explore the case for psychedelics as mental health therapy and why peptides could disrupt the pharmaceutical industry.
Timestamps:
00:00 — Introduction
0:44 — The Environment That Makes Us Sick
04:19 — What Went Wrong in the 1970s
6:10 — The Subsidy Problem
8:49 — Universal Ozempic Won't Save Us
12:21 — Building Truemed
15:59 — The Zoo Animal Theory of Human Health
18:33 — The Chronic Disease Crisis as National Security
27:52 — Psychedelics as Mental Health Therapy
35:49 — Why Peptides Will Disrupt Pharma
Resources:
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see http://a16z.com/disclosures.
Ben Horowitz and David Solomon: The Sweetest Macro Spot in 40 Years
a16z general partner David Haber spoke with Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz on the current macro environment, enterprise AI adoption, and crypto and AI policy. Solomon describes what he calls the "sweetest spot" he's seen in 40 years and explains Goldman's "One GS 3.0" initiative to reimagine core processes with AI. Horowitz discusses why "leads aren't what they once were" in AI and how a16z grew from a startup VC to capturing 18% of all US venture capital.
Read the full transcript here: https://www.a16z.news/s/podcast
Timestamps:
00:00 — Introduction
02:09 — Goldman's Evolution from Partnership to Public Company
08:54 — How a16z Went from Top Tier to 18% of All US Venture Capital
15:33 — "As Sweet a Spot" as Solomon Has Seen in 40 Years
19:00 — M&A Outlook: "Whatever the Question Is, the Answer Is Maybe"
21:33 — Why Leads Aren't What They Once Were in AI
23:03 — Crypto Policy: The Genius Act and Clarity Act
25:24 — AI Policy: "Don't Regulate Math"
28:03 — One GS 3.0: Reimagining Processes with AI
32:54 — Will AI Agents Change Investing?
34:00 — Favorite DJ
Resources:
Follow David Solomon on X: https://twitter.com/DavidSolomon
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see http://a16z.com/disclosures.
The Biggest Bottlenecks For AI: Energy & Cooling
In this episode, Jen Kha, Head of Investor Relations, and David George, General Partner, discuss how late-stage private markets are evolving as AI reshapes scale, capital intensity, and growth timelines. They explain why AI-driven companies are staying private longer, how infrastructure spending is changing return profiles, and what this moment means for durability, value creation, and long-term outcomes in private markets.
Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(04:21) The Market Opportunity for AI
(26:48) Pricing, Monetization, and Cash Burn
(43:15) Companies Staying Private Longer
(51:30) Portfolio Composition and Construction
(57:18) Team Culture and Collaboration
Resources:
Follow Jen Kha on X: https://x.com/jkhamehl
Follow David George on X: https://x.com/DavidGeorge83
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Not an offer or solicitation. None of the information herein should be taken as investment advice; Some of the companies mentioned are portfolio companies of a16z. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures/ for more information. A list of investments made by a16z is available at https://a16z.com/portfolio.
Ben Horowitz breaks down the a16z structure
Ben Horowitz, cofounder of a16z, explains how the tech industry’s growth led the firm to adapt its strategy.
As technology expanded into more categories, a16z organized itself into distinct strategies: Infra, Fintech, Enterprise, Consumer, Bio, Crypto, American Dynamism, Growth, and Speedrun.
The structure allows a16z to cover a broad market while staying focused and nimble.
Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz on the worldview behind a16z
What a16z aims to do is provide legitimacy and power for entrepreneurs.
That idea has shaped how Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz have built the firm for nearly two decades.
In a recent conversation with Packy McCormick and a16z GP Erik Torenberg, they discuss the worldview behind a16z and how it’s evolved alongside technology, media, and entrepreneurship.
The AI Opportunity that goes beyond Models
The a16z AI Apps team outlines how they are thinking about the AI application cycle and why they believe it represents the largest and fastest product shift in software to date. The conversation places AI in the context of prior platform waves, from PCs to cloud to mobile, and examines where adoption is already translating into real enterprise usage and revenue. They walk through three core investment themes: existing software categories becoming AI-native, new categories where software directly replaces labor, and applications built around proprietary data and closed-loop workflows. Using portfolio examples, the discussion shows how these models play out in practice and why defensibility, workflow ownership, and data moats matter more than novelty as AI applications scale.
Timestamps:
00:00 - The AI Opportunity: Apps, Distribution, and Platform Shifts
02:17 - AI's Role in Enterprise and Consumer Applications
05:03 - Emerging AI Trends and Investment Strategies
08:43 - Traditional Software Going AI Native
14:40 - Software Eating Labor
17:04 - Case Study: Eve
21:33 - Building Defensible Moats
24:45 - Case Study: Salient
31:53 - The Walled Garden
40:23 - Incumbents vs. Startups
49:39 - AI Roll-ups
53:32 - Consumer AI Applications
56:03 - Model Aggregation Strategy
57:06 - Investment Process & Team
1:06:46 - Q&A: Customer Retention & Enterprise Sales
Resources:
Follow Alex Rampell on X: https://twitter.com/arampell
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Follow David Haber on X: https://twitter.com/dhaber
Follow Anish Acharya on X: https://twitter.com/illscience
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Not an offer or solicitation. None of the information herein should be taken as investment advice; Some of the companies mentioned are portfolio companies of a16z. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures/ for more information. A list of investments made by a16z is available at https://a16z.com/portfolio.
Dark mode didn’t start as a trend - Marc Andreessen
Marc Andreessen, co-founder at Andreessen Horowitz, helped pioneer the early internet by co-authoring Mosaic, a web browser widely credited with popularizing the World Wide Web.
Due to a sensitivity to light, he found reading black text on white backgrounds difficult. As a result, early versions of Mosaic adopted a gray background. Although Marc advocated for a true dark mode, the limitations of display technology at the time made this infeasible.
Why Venture Capital is a game of outliers - Marc Andreessen
Marc Andreessen, co-founder and general partner at a16z, explains why venture capital is a game of outliers.
Venture returns are highly concentrated. Out of thousands of startups that receive funding, only a few breakout companies go on to become unicorns and generate the majority of the returns for investors.
Inside The Life of Silicon Valley's First Athlete Investor | Magic Johnson